Too Late
by Twix
Summary: What was Ginny thinking when Neville asked her to the dance in her 3rd year? When she found out Harry liked Cho? Did she have the courage to try to ask him the ball? This story is in Ginny's POV about all those events. Please R/R!


A/N: Yes, I know, I should be working on my other stories, but this story was nagging at   
my brain and I needed to write it. Please please please please please review! There are   
some things that are straight from the book. And you can all find them in Chapter 22 of   
HP and the GoF. Nothing is mine except the plot. We luv ya, Jo!  
  
  
"Leslie!" I asked my best friend as we sat down in the Gryffindor common room.   
  
"Huh?" She said not looking up from her Charms homework.   
  
"Do you think I should ask him?"   
  
"Ask whom?" Leslie asked.   
  
I rolled my eyes. Her grammer was always correct. It was a bit annoying. She's   
muggle born and her mom is a Language arts teacher.   
  
"Him!" I said.   
  
"Him?" She asked.   
  
"Yes! Him!" I was starting to get impatient. "You know who Him, is don't you?"   
I used a lot of emphasize on the "him."  
  
She looked up from her homework and grinned. "Oh, him! Ask him what?"  
  
I lowered my voice. I didn't think he was in the common room, but I thought I'd   
better be careful. "Ask him to.. the Yule ball."  
  
Leslie raised her eyebrows. "Really?"  
  
"Yes," I said starting to turn pink. "Should I?"  
  
"Well, I think you should, but it really depends on how you feel about it," She   
said.   
  
I sighed. "I really want to. I mean, it's the only way I'm going to go to the ball.   
And I'll also be able to tell him my.. feelings."   
  
Leslie grinned. "Well, here's your chance!"   
  
I whirled around in my chair. Harry Potter was coming down the stairs from his   
room. And to my amazement, he started to walk towards me.   
  
"Leslie!" I hissed under my breath.   
  
"What?" She said innocently and quite loudly to my dislike.   
  
He was 5 feet away... 3 feet.. 2 feet..   
  
"Ginny?" Harry asked.   
  
"Yes?" I said in a squeaky voice that was very much unlike my own.   
  
"Have you seen Ron anywhere around here?"   
  
I shook my head to avoid spilling that question I wanted to ask him.  
  
"Okay," He said. "Thanks."  
  
And he walked out of the common room.   
  
"Ginny!" Leslie squealed. "Why didn't you ask him?"  
  
I blushed. "I don't know.. I guess it wasn't the right time."  
  
Leslie rolled her eyes. "Yeah, suuure."  
  
I threw my quill at her. "Oh, shut up."  
  
  
* * *   
  
Okay, I'm going to do it, I thought to myself.   
  
I was up in my bedroom brushing my hair. When I go downstairs, I'm going to   
find Harry and ask him. Ask him if he wants to go to the ball.   
  
There! I looked pretty cute! I slipped on a headband to finish it off and then I   
went downstairs.   
  
To my huge disappointment, Harry wasn't in the common room. Ron was though.   
I'll ask him. He would know where he is.  
  
"Ron?" I asked. His head was in his arms. "Are you okay?"  
  
He looked up. "Why?"   
  
"Why what?" I asked. He looked humiliated.   
  
"I just.." Ron started to say. He swallowed hard.   
  
"What?"   
  
"Asked.."   
  
"Asked who what?" I was trying to be patient.   
  
"Fleur.." He said.   
  
"Fleur Delacour?" What did my older brother have to do with her?  
  
"I just asked her.."   
  
My eyes widened. "You just asked Fleur Delacour to the Yule ball?"   
  
"Yes.." He put his head in his hands again.   
  
"And she said no?" I guessed.   
  
Ron nodded.   
  
"Where's Harry?" I asked.   
  
"He better be out getting a date to the ball," He said. "We said that when we get   
back we're going to have dates."  
  
My stomach flip-flopped. "R-Really?"   
  
"Yeah, we're the only one's left." Ron said. "Except Neville."  
  
"I'll be right back," I told him and I rushed up the stairs to my dorm.   
  
"Leslie!" I wailed. She was sitting on her bed.   
  
"Did he say yes?" She asked.   
  
"Ron told me he's out looking for a date," I said.   
  
"Well, then he could still ask you!" Leslie said.   
  
I shook my head. "They made a deal that when they get back to the common   
room, they'd have dates."  
  
Leslie's face fell. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Ginny."  
  
There was a soft knock on the door.   
  
I opened it a crack to see who it was. To my surprise, it was Neville Longbottom.  
  
"Hi, Neville," I said opening the door a bit more.   
  
"Hello, Ginny," He said. He looked really nervous.   
  
There was this really awkward silence. "Yes? May I help you with anything?" I   
asked.   
  
"Um, well," He started. "I was just, um, wondering, maybe, but, you don't have to   
if you don't want to, maybe you'd like to go to the ball with me?"   
  
Whoa! I wasn't expecting that! I turned toward Leslie and she was nodding   
furiously. Well, I wouldn't be able to anyways and it didn't look like Harry was going to   
ask me, so what the heck?  
  
"Sure, Neville!" I smiled at him. "I'd love to."  
  
Neville's face brightned. "Really! That's great! Well, I guess I'll see you later,   
then."  
  
"Yeah," I said. "I'll see you later, Neville."  
  
"Bye, Ginny!"  
  
I turned around towards Leslie again and she started clapping. "Gosh, I wish I   
could go to the ball."  
  
I grinned. "You know, I think I better go see if Ron's okay."  
  
"Okay, Mrs. Longbottom," Leslie said.   
  
"Leslie!" I shrieked.   
  
  
When I went back down the common room, Ron was still there with his hands in   
his head.   
  
"You know, it's not that big of a deal," I said to him as I sat down next to him.   
  
"Why?" He asked. "Why?"   
  
"Why did you ask her?" I asked.   
  
Ron shook his head.   
  
"No, why did you ask her?" I repeated.   
  
"That's what I'd like to know," he said. I patted his arm, grinning.  
  
Just then, Harry walked through the portrait hole. I quickly started to talk to Ron.   
I didn't really want to face Harry now.   
  
"What's up, Ron?" Harry asked.   
  
But Ron just kept muttering, "Why? Why did I do it?"   
  
"He - er - just asked Fleur Delacour to go to the ball with him," I said. I started to   
grin again.  
  
Harry was shocked. "You what?"   
  
Then, Ron told him what had happened. I wasn't really listening. I was paying   
more attention to not looking Harry in the eye.   
  
"...When she was turning on the old charm for Diggory and got a blast of it - but   
she was wasting her time. He's going with Cho Chang."  
  
Ron looked up and the two exchanged looks like they knew something I didn't.   
  
"I asked her to go with me just now, and she told me."  
  
WHAT? Harry likes Cho Chang? Cho Chang? The pretty, popular, Ravenclaw   
Seeker, Cho Chang?   
  
"We're the only one's left! Well, except Neville. He asked Hermione!!" Ron   
said.   
  
"What?" Harry asked.   
  
"Yeah!" Ron said. "She told him that she was going with someone else! She just   
didn't want to go with Neville... I mean, who would?"  
  
Suddenly feeling extremely annoyed I said, "Don't! Don't laugh!"  
  
Hermione then walked through the portrait hole. "Why weren't you two at   
dinner?"   
  
Ron and Harry started to laugh due to their recent conversation.   
  
"Because - oh shut up laughing, you two - because they've both just been turned   
down by girls they asked to the ball!" I said trying to shut them up.   
  
And it did.   
  
Hermione didn't give them much sympathy either and I was grateful for that. I   
was still a bit annoyed of them making fun of Neville.   
  
They then started bugging Hermione about who she was going to the ball with. I   
smiled to myself. Viktor Krum had asked her to the ball! Hermione told me this morning   
at breakfast. Harry and Ron didn't seem to believe her. Ron was certain that she just said   
that to get out of going with Neville.   
  
"I've already told you!" Hermione said very angrily and finally having enough.   
I'm going with someone else!" And with that she ran off towards our dormitories.   
  
"She's lying!" Ron said matter-of-factly as she left.   
  
"She's not," I said.   
  
Ron tried to get it out of me, but I just told him it was none of his business.   
  
Ron looked very distressed. "Right, this is getting stupid. Ginny, you can go with   
Harry, and I'll just -"  
  
Oh, if only! I thought to myself. "I can't! I'm going with - with Neville. He asked   
me and I thought, well, I'm not going to be able to go otherwise, I'm not in fourth year."   
I could feel myself turn scarlet. "I think I'll go have dinner." And I rushed out of the   
common room.   
  
Oh, how embarrassing!! The longer I thought of it, the more I was dreading the   
Yule ball. I mean, Neville was a great person. I liked him as a friend. But to go to the ball   
with him?   
  
I'm so mad at myself! Why didn't I just go out and look for Harry and ask him?   
  
I guess I was just too late.   
  
  
A/N: Thank you for reading! Please reivew! 


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